Tessa could remember the exact moment she ruined Noah’s life.

She had been laying in the grass not far from their campsite, having left her brother to his own devices. He had thrown something of a tantrum after Lexi had gone off on her own, shouting at all of his family members and sparking their father to run off after her. Tessa wasn’t entirely sure what to do with herself after all that, especially when her mother also left and forbade them from following. So, here she was, laying on her belly in the field creating a tiny cup over a blade of grass with her hands.

Concentration came easily to her, like a worn and comfy sweater slipping over her shoulders. It was much harder to break that concentration, and she would often lose herself in tasks until someone else came along and forced her away. So, that day she had decided to lose herself in practice. Ever since she had almost killed herself with a mushroom and found the spores passing around her instead of sticking to her skin, she had been finding small moments to try and replicate the phenomenon. Her study this time found her attempting to will to life a bubble over the grass in her cupped hands. Sparks of gold drifted from her fingers, bringing to mind summertime fireworks, but refused to coalesce into a solid shape.

In what felt like seconds later, but must have been hours, someone’s shoe filled her line of sight just beyond her blade of grass. Blinking away the focus--and slipping the very tip of her tongue back into her mouth (such a bad habit of hers)--she looked up and found her mother above her, reaching for her, nighttime having come without Tessa’s notice.

“Up, up, we have to move,” she commanded frantically. The stress lines around her eyes looked deeper somehow.

“What, why? Is dad okay?” Tessa asked while rolling to a stand.

At the question, her mother hesitated, her hands going momentarily limp just before touching her daughter. “He’ll be fine. We need to get Noah.” With that, she shoved Tessa back to their camp where Noah had fallen asleep next to a stump of a candle he had been using to read.

Quickly shaking Noah awake, their mother then started grabbing their things and haphazardly packing them away. “What’s happening?” Noah asked blearily.

“We’re going home,” their mother replied, stuffing another dirty shirt into her bag.

The response rocketed Noah to wakefulness. “What do you mean? Did they forgive dad? What about Lexi?” His mind worked much faster than Tessa’s, who was still stuck back on the idea of home.

Again, their mother froze in her movements, her hands tight around the blanket Noah had been using. “No, it’s just us. Your father...it’s too late for him.”

Narrowing his eyes, Noah asked, “What does that even mean? I thought he just went to get Lexi back.”

“I tried to stop him from going, Noah. Just get ready and let’s go before they change their minds!” Tessa jumped at the sharp tone. Their mother could be strict, but never mean, and Tessa felt the first inklings of fear creeping into her.

“No, I’m not going anywhere without dad and Lexi.” He stubbornly crossed his arms.

“Now is not the time for this,” their mother whispered wearily, “Please, Noah, this is hard enough.”

He sat petulantly on the ground and glared. “You can’t force me.”

“Noah,” Tessa whimpered. His name was the only thing she could bring herself to utter as the realization of what was happening settled fully onto her.

“There’s no time, Noah!” their mother shouted. “Tessa, grab your things.”

Blinking owlishly at her mother, Tessa began to do just that.

“Tess, stop it, this is crazy,” Noah pleaded before turning back angrily to their mother. “What did you do, mom? There’s no way they’d just let us come back out of the goodness of their hearts.”

“I gave them a tip in exchange for a pardon,” she responded.

“You did what? And who did you sell out for that kind of payoff?”

Another moment of hesitation. “Alexandria,” she whispered. The name rang out like a gunshot in the silence between them all.

“What? Lexi? But she’s our family!”

“No, she’s not. If it means we get to live behind the Barrier again, and you two get to be safe then I would happily do it again,” she stated, her voice firm yet unsure.

“But--but dad went after her!”

“I told you, I tried to stop him.”

“They’ll kill them, mom. This is insane.”

“I did what I had to, damn it!” she yelled once more.

Noah’s face darkened. “I’m not going anywhere with you ever again.”

Tessa had frozen with a sweatshirt in her hands, the material rough from being cleaned in streams and rivers.

“I will drag you if I have to.” Her mother now glared back at her brother, the two locked in a stalemate.

“Yeah, try it then.” Crossing his arms, he settled more firmly into his spot.

“Fine. Once you realize I’m serious, you’ll follow. Tessa, come on.”

“What?” she asked dumbly, still standing alone off to the side.

“We’re leaving, Tessa. Come on.” And their mother did just that, passing outside of the tiny circle of light cast by the candle and into the darkness, expecting them to follow.

Panicked now, Tessa shoved the sweatshirt into her pack and swung it onto her shoulders, leaving everything else behind. She didn’t want to be left behind alone.

“Wait, Tess, you’re seriously leaving?” Noah asked, his voice having lost all its bravado and now sounding small and scared.

“We can’t survive out here alone, Noah,” she replied. They were barely teenagers, and without their father or Lexi’s powers, there was no way they would even make it through the night.

“Dad and Lexi’ll come back. They’re tough.” He said it all with conviction, truly believing that somehow, impossibly, they would make it through the gauntlet of Barrier Patrol surely bearing down on them and return unscathed.

“No, Noah, they’re not. We need to stay with mom,” she pleaded, “Please, we have to hurry before she gets too far.”

“I can’t believe this. Fine, go with mom and go back to the Barrier and leave the rest of us to rot for all I care.” His face looked demonic in the shadows cast by the flickering flame, and Tessa met his eyes and could see the familiar lines of her twin’s face, so similar to her own and yet so different too, and she made her decision.

Stepping out of the light of the candle, she turned and fled after her mother, believing every second until they were being escorted by Barrier Patrol back into the city that Noah would follow.